BLUES & DRAGONS IN THE FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT
CARDIFF Blues remain on course for a trip to France in the Champions Cup play-offs after an unconvincing win on a night of red and yellow cards at the Arms Park.
They weren’t able to claim a bonus point, as it finished three tries apiece, with man-of-the-match Tomos Williams denied a spectacular second score due to a knock-on in the build.
And, in the end, they were left clinging on for victory at the death, with Zebre’s scrum having proved a dominant weapon in the second half.
Troubles in the tight saw Tau Filise yellow carded, with Nick Williams and Sion Bennett also binned for the hosts, while Italian prop Dario Chistolini was red carded for punching Bennett in the face.
Despite being down to 14 men in the closing stages, Zebre still came tantalisingly close to pulling off a major upset at it took a last gasp tackle from Matthew Morgan to save the day.
So far from perfect, but the win does strengthen the Blues’ hold on seventh spot in the Guinness PRO12 table, with just one regular season match left to play.
It’s a result which has taken them five points clear of eighth-placed Connacht, who play hosts to the buoyant Scarlets this weekend.
The Blues take on the Dragons at Caerphilly in their final league fixture next week, while Connacht face a testing trip to title-chasing Munster.
Danny Wilson’s men look strongly placed to finish seventh and that would mean them being away to a French club in the Euro play-off semifinals.
So there’s still plenty to play for, although the Blues will need to improve dramatically on their second half performance in this final home game of the season.
Everything had looked rosy as they led 23-3 at the break.
Early dominance had delivered a brace of penalties for Gareth Anscombe and the mounting pressure told with a couple of tries in quick succession as the game moved into the second quarter.
First, a couple of classy off-loads from back row boys Nick Williams and Ellis Jenkins off a counter enabled Anscombe to show his pace as he raced in at the left corner.
And, four minutes later, winger Aled Summerhill produced a class finish as he stood up full-back Edoardo Padovani and scorched over after being fed by centres Halaholo and Lee-Lo.
It was to be a very different story in the second half though, as the hosts found themselves under the cosh, with Zebre getting well on top in the scrum.
That dominance in the tight earned the Italians a one-man advantage as Filise was yellow carded following a series of offences, with the Blues not allowed to replace him when they wanted to after the penultimate penalty.
And with the collapses continuing, Irish referee Frank Murphy lost his patience, running under the posts as he awarded a penalty try.
The Blues responded straight away with an opportunist effort from the lively Tomos Williams, who charged down an attempted clearing kick from Canna and pounced on the loose ball.
It looked as though the gifted young scrum-half was in again as he weaved his way down the left touchline and dived in acrobatically at the corner to dab down one-handed.
But the score was ruled out for a knock-on in the build-up, which was a real shame as it was a great finish.
With Zebre continuing to dominate in the scrum, they claimed a second try through flanker Maxime Mbanda as they kept the ball among the forwards.
They then had replacement prop Chistolini red carded for punching Bennett in reaction to a no-arms tackle which saw the Blues back rower sin-binned.
But still they poured forward with Andries Van Schalkwyk claiming a converted late try to earn them a thoroughly-deserved losing bonus point.